By Joe Pampena, Board Certified Coach, C4C Coaching-4-Change
Member of the Vaughan Chamber of Commerce Technology and Innovation Committee
The Internet of Things (IoT for short), is a growing field in today’s connected world. Simply put, IoT allows connected devices to communicate and transfer data over the Internet. IoT creates an environment for both business and personal growth and wellness.
Most may not be aware of IoT or what exactly it means, however most people have already been exposed to it. You have heard of NEST, RING for home use – this allows a doorbell application to connect through the Internet to the cloud back to an app on your phone so that you can view, talk, and answer the doorbell. Fitness tracking apps and devices such as Fitbit, Google/Apple Watches, provide a variety of data, from the steps you have walked in a day to how well you slept at night. SMART homes are equipped with a multitude of IoT devices to monitor your home from a security perspective, water flow and leaks, thermostat for heating/cooling, lighting, etc. These are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the uses of IoT.
The future IoT at this point is infinite. Today there are more than 12 billion devices that can connect to the Internet. Within the next 1-2 years, that figure could be over 150 billion devices. We have seen most of the growth today in areas that benefit consumers from home or personal perspective – these areas will continue to grow, however the untapped market and future growth of adoption will occur in the manufacturing, utilities and health sectors.
We have started to see how Amazon uses IoT for consumers to track their orders. As technology improves, you will be able to receive real-time delivery timing. Automobiles being connected with dealerships/manufactures to monitor performance, maintenance schedules, and automatic service appointments. Eventually, every device that monitors your health can have an option to send you vitals to your doctor. Home Security becomes real-time to your Smartphone allowing you to verify a true breach and contact the authorities real-time without the lag in processing through a monitoring company. You will be able to send pictures, video real-time to local police for faster response.
The question you should be asking yourself is: where is your business concerning the adoption and use of IoT? Whether it is to protect, monitor your business, help reduce costs using IoT or enhance/create a new revenue stream to maintain market share and/or growth. The opportunities of IoT will significantly increase with the rollout of 5G wireless technology (view full article on 5G) as the latency, speed and bandwidth are less of an issue.
There is a lot that is fact and known today about IoT, and a lot that will evolve as the technology continues to advance. It might be a good time for you to reflect on your current business and how you may be able to leverage IoT solutions going forward.
Next Steps:
- Let the Vaughan Chamber of Commerce know whether you want to come to know more about IoT – contact us!
- Consider looking into how your industry sector is planning on leveraging IoT solutions.
- Finally, you can continue hearing from us on on technology and innovation, best practices, etc on social media and by joining our e-newsletter list.
